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Ramadan Calls for Book Fair Boycott

The controversial Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan is making waves in the European press by calling on “all people of conscience” to boycott Italy’s largest book fair for honoring the state of Israel.

This year, the Turin Book Fair, a festival of readings and signings (May 8th to 12th), has chosen to honor Israel on its 60th anniversary of statehood. The Israeli novelists David Grossman, Amos Oz, A.B. Yehoshua and Etgar Keret are on the program.

But that didn’t sit well with Ramadan, a professor of Islamic Studies at Oxford and at Erasmus University in the Netherlands and a highly contested figure who has been profiled here, criticized here and here, and who wrote about the Koran for the Book Review here.

In an interview on Feb. 1 with the Italian news agency ADN Kronos, Ramadan called on “all people of conscience” to boycott the Turin fair. “From now on we cannot recognize the legitimacy of celebrating the state of Israel, which leaves death and desolation in its wake.” The issue, he said, “is not an Islamic or Arab question, but a matter of world conscience.” (Ramadan also called for a boycott of the Paris Book Fair, to be held from March 14 to 19, because it too will honor Israel.)

After the ensuing media storm, Ramadan clarified his remarks on his own Web site, saying the boycott campaign was “intended as criticism of the ‘guest of honor.’ It is not an attempt to prevent Israeli authors from attending or from expressing themselves. It does not refuse to engage them in debate.”

In Italy’s leading daily, Corriere della Sera, the Turin festival’s public organizers and main private sponsor stood by their decision to honor Israel. The mayor of Turin, Sergio Chiamparino, said that to deny the Israeli people “the right of free expression” would be to take “a fundamentalist line, which unfortunately is invading Europe and corrupting many people, especially on the left.”

(Like most Italian papers, Corriere moronically doesn’t maintain live links to its articles, but this pro-Israel Italian blog posted the article’s contents.)

Responding in La Repubblica, Italy’s main center-left daily, the French-Moroccan novelist Tahar Ben Jalloun opposed the boycott — saying it would “give the state of Israel grounds to present itself not as an occupier of the Palestinian territories, but as a victim.” (Ben Jalloun’s statement is available in French on his Web site.) “Boycotting the next Turin Book Fair won’t pave the way for peace and reconciliation,” he wrote. “Criticize the policies of a state. Criticize a novel on its literary merits.”

Others have since weighed in. David Grossman told La Repubblica that “in principle, I am opposed to the culture of boycotts, because the essence of culture is dialogue.” And the Italian novelist Claudio Magris wrote opposing the boycott on the front page of Corriere. Again, no live links, but this blog is keeping track of everyone’s position.

It seems to me that literature should be about bringing folks together and pointing out the commonalities of all people — rather than highlighting political differences, no matter how significant, and driving people apart.

Congratulations to the the Turin Book Fair for not caving in the the rhetoric of the Antisemites. Why shouldn’t Israel be honored ? The Muslims should take personal responsibility for the suffering of the Palestinians, afterall they have created their suffering, by not accepting them in their countries and keeping them in refugee camps.

With all do respect Francine, why should the Palestinians leave their homes? Why couldnt the Zionists accept the native Arab population into their plan? Why force people out of their country just to make a Jewish majority?

Palestinians are left in refugee camps (within the occupied territories) because of severe economic issues that stem from the occupation itself. they can not afford to buy, build or rent houses.

i ask you to do some more research on the subject and not to believe the rhetoric out there. Amira Hass is an Israeli-Jewish journalist for Ha’aretz who reaches out to Israeli-Jews in hopes that they will see beyond the spokespeople for the IDF.

Jimmy Carter imposed a boycott of the Moscow Olympics because the Soviet Union had annexed Afghanistan. In hindsight, the annexation might have been good for everyone. But the Iraeli occupation of Palestine is so similar to Hitler, Nazi’s, Gestapo; it’s eerie, sad, pathetic. That Jewish people everywhere would allow this, reminds us of how we allowed the events of the Third Reich to go unchecked.

Hi Gabistan,
it is kind of funny that in your last sentence you imply Israelis are getting their information from the IDF’spokespersons and at the same time you mention Israel’s major newspaper Haaretz, which exemplifies the beauty of Israeli democracy. So, is Israel a democracy or an army-controlled country? make up your mind.

Rather than Francine, you should do more reserach and understand that many Palestinians (by all means, not all of them) were asked to leave their homes by the Arab country during the 1948 war, with the promise that they will come back to a Jew-free land after the Arab armies throw them all at sea. Furthermore, you should also check the other factors that kept and still keep Palestinians in the condition of refugees… Israel has a responsibility of course, but what about some introspection? the Arab world has no responsibility over keeping the Palestinian in refugee camps (Lebanon, Syria??). And finally, the Palestinian will ever become responsible for themselves or should the US and EU keep feeding their leaders so that their miserable situation continues to get worse?

About Ramadan, I hope eventually the European leftist will fall out of love with these liars, opportunist and extremely dangerous people such as “Frere Tariq”

Mike Covey’s comments comparing Israeli rule to the Nazi occupation in Europe show how Nazi-Communist-like thinking has penetrated public opinion in several Western countries and also demonstrates the prevalence of ignorance about Arab-Israeli relations and history and the crude, simplistic, slogan-based thinking of many people who slander Israel.

Now as to whether Israel is “occupying” Arab or “Palestinian” land [nobody heard of a “Palestinian people” in 1947-1948, least of all the Arabs] or has simply recovered land [Judea-Samaria] that belonged to the Jewish National Home by international law and by history, is a matter of dispute. However, Covey might recall that the United States occupied parts of Germany, Austria and Japan after World War II. Furthermore, Russia occupied parts of Germany, Austria, and Japan and annexed parts of pre-WW2 Poland, Finland, Germany, and Romania, etc. France & the UK occupied parts of Germany & Austria. Nobody, least of all the Left, complained about those occupations.

Now, did the Arabs themselves –or even the Arabs in the mandated territory of Palestine, the territorial name given to the Jewish National Home by the San Remo Conference & the League of Nations– recognize even that there was such a place as “Palestine”??? Arab expert witnesses testifying before the Anglo-American Commission of Inquiry on Palestine in 1946 denied that there was ever such a place as Palestine. This position was grounded in the Arab tradition that viewed what the West called “Palestine” as merely an indistinct area of Syria or Greater Syria [bilad ash-Sham in Arabic]. Neither the Mamluk nor Ottoman empires had an province or district named “Filastin” or “Palestine,” nor did any Mamluk or Ottoman province or district have boundaries at all close to those of the “Palestine” entity erected juridically by the San Remo Conference and the League of Nations. Before WW One, the future “Palestine” was divided among Ottoman subdivisions, such as the vilayet [province] of Sham [= Damascus], the sanjaq [district] of Jerusalem, etc.

I see that Gabistan too has his ignorant fantasies. The reason that so many Arabs are still in refugee settlements is due to the policy of Arab governments and the PLO/Palestinian Authority. The PA has gotten huge sums since 1994 from the European Union, USA, Japan, and oil-rich Arab states, etc. The PA chose not to build homes for the population in the refugee settlements in order to use them as a display of alleged Israeli/Jewish malevolence. In fact, when Israel wanted to build homes for Arabs in Gaza [in the 1970s] who were living in refugee settlements, this decision was opposed by the UN, by Arab states, by the PLO, various Western governments, etc. These international factors wanted to keep Arabs in the refugee settlements.

I understand why Mr. Ramadan wishes to boycott the book fairs that are so cozy that it’s all Western cultural authors–fiction or non-fiction–in Italian or many languages. Seemingly, Turin sticks to Italian and French to French. How is anyone–Christian or Muslim–going to gain the knowledge of the opposite if there is no variety and the “doors” are closed??

US/we have too few books in English about/by other people. Too many readers here I find prefer chick lit and/or horror stories of one type or another. I have bought one of his and one of Edward Said’s from a used-book store. They aren’t the best as reviewers see them but my pocketbook wouldn’t allow me the most expensive.

Although I have only read parts of each, they both have aided or verified my previous ideas about Islam and MiddleEastern cultures–slightly but to the positive.

I prefer fiction and have read 4 from Afghanistan, some from Iran and Iraq with others not yet read and others I haven’t found. Others are “coffee-table books” of Iraq and Iran so I can remember or gain more of the insights I received in 1969 that are still there but aren’t secular, just historical.

BUT if Mr, Ramadan were allowed a small area for his books in Turin and France, many may be surprised how many at least stop to look even if they can’t or don’t buy. Any exposure is better than nothing. Nothing from either side just leaves a bad taste in one’s mouth.

Is/Are Turin and/or Paris really too good to allow strangers?? If so, I’d rather wait buy my books from the authors in the Middle East. I avoid snobs!

Boycotts against Jews are nothing new. Goes back to Pharaoh. The Holocaust began with boycotts. Jewish shops were shut down and Jewish professors, scientists and writers were forbidden to function (before they were shipped off to the death camps).

As of 1948 the fate of Europe’s Jews in the Holocaust was a stain on the conscience of the so-called “civilised world”. Sixty years later, supporters of yet another attempt to wipe the Jewish people off the face of the Earth are accorded intellectual integrity. Zero advancement? We’re going backwards.

Ramadan say ” the boycott campaign was “intended as criticism of the ‘guest of honor.’

During his visit to the Mideast , Egypt-Mubarak said to Bush “the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the Mideast core issue”

A rebuttal:
If you are so sure that “Palestine, the country, goes back through most of recorded history”, I expect you to be able to answer a few basic questions about that country of “Palestine”:
1. When was it founded and by whom?
2. What were its borders?
3. What was its capital?
4. What were its major cities?
5. What constituted the basis of its economy?
6. What was its form of government?
7. Can you name at least one Palestinian leader before Arafat?
8. Was Palestine ever recognized by a country whose existence, at that time or now, leaves no room for interpretation?
9. What was the language of the country of Palestine?
10. What was the prevalent religion of the country of Palestine?
11. What was the name of its currency? Choose any date in history and try and find the approximate exchange rate of the Palestinian monetary unit against the US dollar, German mark, British pound, Japanese yen, or Chinese yuan on that date.
12. Have the Palestinians left any artifacts behind?
13. Do you know of a library where one could find a work of Palestinian literature produced before 1967?
14. And, finally, since there is no such country today, what caused its demise and when did it occur?